10 Ways to Avoid Work Burn-Out

Working in a busy job can be buzzy, exciting and exhilarating, but this blog post is for those of you who find the balance is more at the ‘Crazy busy all the time, with no let–up’ end of the scale.

When you have a busy job and it seems to constantly be on the go, it can, over time, really wear us down and make us feel drained, we catch more illnesses, we let other parts of our life fall by the wayside and it can end up being that work is all we focus on in life.

If you find you recognise this is happening in your current job role, here are some ways to help you

Ask yourself, is this a short term push or has your job been like this for a while? If it has been like it for a while, it can help to ask yourself if this is what you want from life?

Often when we have a busy job we can either do nothing as we are exhausted or bring the fast pace of our work into our out-of-work life. Getting more and more in a spiral of doing. Often when we are constantly busy it can be really hard to slow ourselves down, if you recognize this within you, start setting aside an evening a week to do nothing and resist the temptation to fill it.

Speaking of evenings, have a wind down schedule to help you sleep. This could involve, having a warm bath, or reading a few minutes of something that connects you to you., doing, yoga or sitting quietly in a softly lit room, can all help with switching off from your work.

Try to avoid checking your mobile in the last 30 minutes before going to bed (especially work emails!) often we get an email at 10pm that implicates something we have done at work or annoys us in some way which means we can get into having imaginary reply conversations with ourselves, or responding to emails and getting drawn into email conversations when you are having precious home time. If you find this hard, perhaps put an out of office on your work email to let people know you won’t be checking your emails after a certain time at night- this starts setting boundaries as to what is helpful for you in maintaining balance.

Plan out of work time– at the weekends and evenings, it can help to put aside some time to plan your week ahead, do a batch cook of something you can have in the evening or at lunch to save you thinking about food for the week and yet still giving you nutritious food.

Finding quiet in your day- At work take longer loo breaks and practice for just one minute, bringing your attention and focus to your breath. Taking a longer out breath than in breath helps calm the mind and body and by focusing in on your breath it brings moments of calm through the day.

Breath of fresh air- If you can, step out the office every day, even for five-ten minutes just to get a breath of fresh air and space, this helps give perspective and space from the job.

Let go of expectations- If you know that work is busy and will be for a short amount of time, let go of the need to do certain things and give yourself some leeway and time out- we can stress ourselves out more by trying to fit everything in and also get completely ungrounded and resentful in the process.

Make time out of work count– ask yourself what you want in life and look at how you can bring this through in your time out of work- for example, exercise may be really important to you perhaps walking part of the way home could be an option to get in some exercise in.

Become aware of your boundaries– What are you willing and not will to accept with work? Start knowing what feels right for you as this is the first step in making changes and creating a role that is in tune with you.

And finally set yourself a deadline for when you will be reevaluating your work situation. Time can often run away from us and before we know it, we are six months down the line and life hasn’t changed, but we feel even more exhausted.

No one can tell us when the time is right to look at changing the situation we are in, apart from ourselves, checking in with yourself regularly ensures that you don’t give years of your life away without you making that choice.

I coach men and women on finding the balance they are craving for in life. If you know of anyone who would benefit from this post, please share, if you would like a free no obligation coaching session, contact me.

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About Me

I’m a professional certified life coach and author.
I specialise in working with people who aren’t living live the way they hoped to, but know deep down they want to create positive change.
It is my mission to be a catalyst for change in people’s lives, supporting you to make the most of life right now and cutting through the inner chatter to create a life you dared not to imagine.

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About Me

I’m a professional certified life coach and author.
I specialise in working with people who aren’t living live the way they hoped to, but know deep down they want to create positive change.
It is my mission to be a catalyst for change in people’s lives, supporting you to make the most of life right now and cutting through the inner chatter to create a life you dared not to imagine.